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Monday, October 13, 2008

TRESE in Sunday Inquirer Magazine

MANILA, Philippines -Almost from the very beginning, Budjette Tan has been surrounded by the unusual. “When I was a newborn baby, my parents moved into what turned out to be a haunted house,” he explains. “The ghosts were seen by my yaya and my uncles. My parents didn’t believe in such things, until one summer day after my mom gave me a bath. She said the right side of my face suddenly wrinkled up—that it looked like the face of an old man. She prayed over me until I became normal again.” Psychics were summoned and a séance held. “The psychics told the spirits that they had to move on to the next plane. The haunting stopped after some time.”

Even Tan did not know that something similarly spooky would redefine his life later on. With him doing the writing and Kajo Baldisimo providing the art, Tan came up with “Trese,”a comic book series that follows mysterious investigator Alexandra Trese as she helps the police solve unearthly crimes in Metro Manila—sometimes with some direct action from Trese and her bizarre bodyguards, the Kambal.

Wow kuya Budjette, Trese is finally getting the attention that it deserves. Tsaka OK din ung plan ni Mr. Federigan na i-distribute ang Trese dito sa Visayas kasi so far sa National Bookstores lang siya available. Well anyways, good luck po sa team nyo ulit and as always I'm looking forward to the release of Trese Book 3. Nai-frame ko na kasi yung Trese 1 at 2 ko pagkatapos ko basahin. More power to the Trese team and may Alex continue to thrill us with exciting tales from and about the underworld.

As part of my biweekly bookstore-browsing ritual, I went to the Powerbooks branch at Greenbelt and stumbled upon your dark black-and-white book on their gigantic happy yellow shelf. I told myself, "'Stig, bibilhin ko 'to. But not after I claim my PowerCard at the Glorietta branch."

So lanky me scurried off to there, demanded my new point-earning card (I'm a sucker for such. I even own a Laking-National Bookstore card.), and scoured the shelves for your book. I found a slightly tattered, open copy and asked if they had one in stock. Aba't wala na! "Then it must be really good!", exclaims my blabbermouth of a head. (I had no previous knowledge of the existence of the comic, in print nor on the web.) And so I retraced my footsteps back to Greenbelt and grabbed a copy. Good thing it was priced at a rather comfortable P140 or this cheapskate would have reconsidered. Hehehe.

Some random (positive) thoughts about the comic:

1. The Nuno sa Manhole was genius! When the sutsot came from another direction, it had me going, "What th--?", for a second.2. That Alexandra Trese was no tall Lara Croft earned you lots of Pinoy Points!3. In The Tragic Case of Dr. Burgos, "She slapped him and declared her hate for him." ...Ouch, man.4. While reading Our Secret Constellation: ...Hmm, the crown looks familiar... ...A g-string? Is datchoo, Lapu-lapu? ...Those armbands, I've seen them before... ..."Is your brother Daniel here?" Argh! Teka, teka, teka! (I cover the rest of the page with one hand while summarizing the clues in my head)... ...SI DARNA NGA! (I'm sorry, I've never read any of Mars Ravelo's komiks. I've only seen some of the movies in my childhood.)